Global Press Journal reporters covered a litany of tough issues in 2018 (indentured servitude, economic collapse and forced displacement, to name just a few), but they also found moments of joy. We’ve collected 10 of the year’s most hopeful, surprising and heartwarming stories from around the world. Enjoy!

An 18-year-old princess, selected for the role by her tribe, honors her people by wearing a feathered war bonnet in place of a tiara. GPJ reporter Amanda Hill followed her from home to school and traditional events.

In the past, children – even babies – were often left in the care of other, older children at a border post in Gisenyi, Rwanda while their mothers walked into neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo to earn money for the day. In this tear-jerking story, GPJ reporter Janviere Uwimana discovered that a new day care center at that border post now offers a safe space for those children.

Nearly nine years after a major earthquake destroyed huge portions of Haiti’s capital city, a once-active theater scene is just now getting back to business. GPJ reporter Anne Myriam Bolivar visited the restored National Theater.

There are solutions to even the toughest problems, as GPJ reporter Yam Kumari Kandel found when she asked about the fate of homeless children in Nepal. There, a new guardianship program is getting those children into school.

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